01-Sep-2003 -- On our way back from 44N 81W, we decided to stop to check out 44N 80W. It had been successfully documented in March 2001, but that had been done while there was still snow on the ground. We figured it wouldn’t hurt to do it again with images of late summer. Besides, it was directly on our route back to our home just north of Toronto.

The confluence was right in the middle of a “V” intersection between Airport Road, and Hockley Road. There were homes on the Airport Rd. side, but the Hockley Road side of the “V” seemed to be undeveloped. In fact, there even was an opening in the woods that started out as a path in the right direction.

The path soon petered out, so were just followed the lead of our GPS, and headed straight for the confluence. It was only about 60 meters from the car, so we considered ourselves fairly lucky. The confluence appeared to be right in the middle of a small stream. The forest canopy at the CP was quite thick, and it was difficult to get an accurate reading, as the numbers kept shifting. Rather than trying the Confluence Dance, moving around to get the zeros, we used a different strategy. We just stood still, and hoped that the numbers would change in our favour, snapping pictures when we were within a few thousand’s of a minute. (It’s nice having a digital camera for this, firstly so you can see the results of the picture immediately, to know if you got the shot, and secondly, you don’t have to worry about “wasting” film even if you didn’t.) After about 10 minutes our patience paid off, and the GPS deities granted us our wish of an all zeros reading. Unfortunately, the picture I took in my excitement was out of focus, so I am submitting the picture where the reading was a mere 0.001 minute off (1.3 meters). For the record, we were at an altitude of 288.1 meters above sea level, with an accuracy reading of 14.5 m.

Given that the confluence is at the bottom of a wooded valley, there isn’t much to see in the 4 directions, but we took all 4 pictures anyway. W, N, E, S.

As it turns out, while I was reviewing the topographic maps of the area while writing up our visit, I discovered an interesting fact. At least interesting to me. The stream that runs through confluence is a tributary of the Natawasaga River. Growing up, I had spent all my summers at a cottage that my parents had in Wasaga Beach, on the shore of the other end of the same river, 55 km north from the CP. The River meets Georgian Bay (part of Lake Huron) at Wasaga. Wasaga Beach’s claim to fame is that it has the world's longest fresh water sand beach. This picture was taken about 2 weeks earlier. You can see part of the Niagara Escarpment in the background.